Riesling - Day Eleven

This evening I once again checked the specific gravity of the juice. It was just over 1.00, which was under the 1.01 needed to move the juice to the secondary fermentor. After I sanitized the equipment, I moved the juice to the juice. I'll check the specific gravity again in ten days or so. At that point I should be able to stabilize and clear the juice.

Moving the juice from the primary to the secondary fermentor.

The recently moved juice sitting in the secondary fermentor.

Riesling - Day Two

It's been just over 24 hours since the yeast was introduced to the juice. Just as I predicted would be the case, the fermentation has begun! In another week or so I will check the specific gravity. At that point I will be able to begin the second step, provided the reading is in the correct range. Check back in a few days for an update!

Riesling - Day One

Zschoche Cellars began fermenting our second round of juice this afternoon. This time it is a Vinters Reserve Riesling white wine kit. I began by sanitizing all of the equipment and then let it dry. That is one thing that I am going to try differently this time around. Last time, I didn't allow the equipment dry. While the sanitizer is "no rinse," I believe that some of the residue hindered a complete fermentation of the sugar and also led to some of the "off tastes" in the finished product.

The Vinters Reserve Riesling kit that I used.

Next, I added a package of bentonite to a small amount of spring water before adding 2.6 gallons of Riesling juice. I stirred the contents after adding an additional 2.4 gallons of water to bring to total volume to 6 gallons.

All of the ingredients that will be added to the juice at different times over the next month.

 

 

Adding the water to the juice.

Gravity feeding the juice into the primary fermentor using the auto siphon.

 After mixing the juice and water, I took a small sample and measured the specific gravity, potential alcohol and percent sugar. The readings were 1.082, 12% and 22% respectively. Finally, I added the yeast to the juice, covered the fermentor and placed it in a dark cabinet. The temperature of the juice is 65 degrees farenheit, which means that it might be a little longer than seven days before I begin the next step. As with the last batch, the yeast will begin fermenting the juice sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours.

The juice with the yeast floating on the surface.

New Beginnings!

It's been almost two weeks since I bottled my first batch and I am starting to get antsy to get going again. There is no brew shop in Enid. The closest is about 90 minutes south in Oklahoma City.

Well, yesterday I drove to OKC to pick Marissa up at the airport and on the way made a detour to The Brew Shop, a small supply store north of downtown. I am happy to report that the next round of fermentation will begin in the next day or two! I will announce the varietal when I blog on the first day, so check back soon!

Update

It's been three days since I bottled my first batch of wine. I went to the UPS Store today with my label design and had them print the label. When I got home, I placed the label on several of the bottles, as well as applied the shrink wrap. Both of those things give the bottles a more "professional" look.

I also did the finance calculations on this batch of wine. It cost me a total of $357.31 for all of the supplies. After I divided that by 24 bottles, I figured out that each bottle cost me $14.89 to produce. That might seem like a lot, but you need to consider how most of the expenses were for equipment, not for the juice itself. Each subsequent batch that I produce will cost on average $7 or less. Not only the next rounds be cheaper to produce, hopefully they'll be better to drink!

 

Zschoche Cellars first bottle with the new label. 

 

The first bottle of Zschoche Cellars wine ever produced.

Day Thirty Three, Bottling Day!

There are many things that people accomplish in their lives, almost all of which can never be taken away from them. Becoming an Eagle Scout, receiving a college degree and soloing an airplane are three such accomplishments that I can boast. Well, now I have one more, I am a wine maker!

Tonight, I, along with the help of several friends, bottled my first batch of wine. It was not the smoothest of processes, but when all was said and done, I had twenty four bottles of newly fermented wine. It's been 14 days since I last worked with the juice, when I stabilized and cleared the juice. I had to take a small sample of the wine tonight to make sure that it was clear. I did this by using a siphon and holding the juice up to the light. The wine was clear (meaning that I could easily see through it and it did not appear cloudy) and I decided to press forward with bottling.

I lifted the fermentor to the counter top and sanitized all of my equipment, to include all of the bottles. Initially, I thought that I could bottle by myself. Almost immediately I realized that it was going to take more than one person, so I called Matt Deming and Dave Keller to come and help me. Dave sanitized the bottles while Matt and I used the siphon to bottle the juice. At one point, we had too much pressure build in one of the hoses. The result was catastrophic to probably two or three bottles of wine, as that amount of juice sprayed all over the kitchen floor.

We were unable to get all of the juice bottled due to the dead yeast particles at the bottom of the fermentor. That, coupled with the lost juice, was the reason that I was only able to produce 24 of the predicted 30 bottles. Once the juice was in the bottle, I used a corking device to shove the corks in the bottles. I tasted a small amount of the wine and also tested the specific gravity. The wine tasted decent, though I hoped that it would taste better. Hopefully it will taste better as it ages. Unfortunately, the specific gravity was rather low, meaning that the alcohol content was below a typical wine. I still need to figure out what went wrong, and hopefully re-test later on.

I'm a little disappointed with the way that this first batch turned out. Thought I keep telling myself that it was only my first try. Thing will get better as I continue to experiment. Even though I'm disappointed, I'm still extremely excited and proud to have finished my first bottles. Look for a post later this week on labeling the bottles as well as one in the near future on "lessons learned" and exciting plans for the future. I am officially a wine maker!

 

Zschoche Cellars first glass and bottle. 4 April 2011

 

Zschoche Cellars first glass. 4 April 2011

 The first two cases of Zschoche Cellars wine.